The History and Evolution of Final Fantasy
by FonBueller
Summary: This paper summarizes the entire history of the Final Fantasy series.


The History and Evolution of the Final Fantasy Series 

The History and Evolution of the Final Fantasy Series   
By FonBueller

* * *

Hi everybody. This is Fon. I'm in 9th grade now, but I wrote this when I was in 8th. It got an A because it's so damn good! So don't waste time here! Read it! 

P.S. If you find any problems or have some sort of comment, let me know at fonbueller1@hotmail.com. Thanks. 

P.P.S. Go buy a Moby CD. 

* * *

Readers Outline 

* * *

I. My Questions   
1. My first Final Fantasy   
2. What's an RPG?   
3. My reason for choosing my topic 

II. My Search Process   
1. What I know now   
2. Searching on the web   
3. My (Failed) trip to the Carnegie Library   
4. Getting an interview 

III. What I've Learned   
1. The origin - Square   
2. Final Fantasy 1   
3. Final Fantasy 2   
4. Final Fantasy 3   
5. Final Fantasy 4   
6. Final Fantasy 5   
7. Final Fantasy 6   
8. Final Fantasy 7   
9. Final Fantasy 8   
10. Final Fantasy 9   
11. What the future holds for Final Fantasy 

IV. What This Means to Me   
1. How I developed as a writer   
A. Turning facts into paragraphs   
B. Effectively stating the truth without plagiarizing others' work   
2. How I developed as a researcher   
A. Searching for information on the web   
B. Searching for information using the Carnegie Library's Caroline system 

V. Works Cited My Questions 

* * *

A few years ago, I developed an allergic reaction to an antibiotic and suffered severe arthritis. It was so bad that I couldn't walk! My dad felt sorry for me, so he went out and bought me a Playstation. I have considered myself blessed ever since. 

A commercial began appearing regularly on TV, and it interested me. It advertised a game called Final Fantasy VII, and it showed many startlingly good animations and effects. As the average idiot may have guessed, I went out and bought the game (After I regained the ability to stand). I went home, went into my grotto that was my mothers' basement, and inserted the magical first of three discs of FF7 into my Playstation. 

This was the first game in the Role-Playing Game category for me, and also one of my first video games for either the Playstation or anything else. I had no clue what to expect. I was blown away with stunning graphics that never seemed to end, captivating, original characters, music that touched my soul, a plotline so interesting that I could hardly bear to put down the controller, and tragic scenes and circumstances that would make a grown man weep. My thought was instantaneous, and I remember it clearly- 

'They made seven of these?' I became a FF7 fanatic! I didn't sleep, didn't eat! All I could think of was how Cloud could overcome his horrible disease, and how evil Sephiroth was for wanting to be our god! Then, just a few months after I stopped with that craze, FF8 came out. 

This was great too. I didn't become quite as infatuated with FF8 as I did with 7, but it was fun nonetheless. FF9 is out too, and I have recently beaten it. This story was just as strong as FF8's, which isn't too shabby, to say the least. I realized that I had to know more about this series. It originated in Japan, but I really don't know any big names except for Nobuo Uematsu, the music director for the series. 

I want to know how the FF series originated. When did it begin? What were the early games like? How has it changed through the years? My Search Process 

* * *

I've previously explained how Final Fantasy has so dramatically changed my outlook on video games in general. However, my recent research for this project was not the first of its kind for me. 

Since what I like to refer to as 'My Personal FF7 Event Horizon,' which occurred in '97, my interest and passion has not died. In fact, with the recent technology allowing access to the Internet, I've seen a lot of information and facts about FF7, and the rest of the series. For example, I know that the music director of the whole series is a man named Nobuo Uematsu. I also know that there have been nine main FF games, plus FF legends one through three for the GameBoy, and they came from the original Japanese MaNa games. There are many more spin-offs and side games besides. 

However, with a 14-year history and still growing, my knowledge left a lot to be desired. I began searching specifically for the I-Search on the Internet. Due to the nature of my search, most of my material came from the Internet. Needless to say, the Carnegie Library is not a particularly spectacular source for books on Final Fantasy. 

I've searched at Hotbot.com, and also Yahoo!.com for numerous fan and fact pages. In other words, some people put information on the web for business purposes, and others have no life. I've found several useful sites. You will see the addresses of all of these in my Works Cited section. 

One day my english teacher's intern said that her boyfriend, Josh Jordan, was a storehouse of knowledge for Final Fantasy. Needless to say, this was fabulous news. I had gotten an interview! I wasn't sure if getting an interview would be possible for me. After all, Pitt doesn't exactly give out diplomas in 'Finalfantasyology.' However, he was a great help, due to the fact that he was in 9th grade when FF1 came out, and therefore cleared up all conflicting frames of reference throughout the web. 

So, the interview and web sites are all that I had to go on. Then I realized something- I could download copies of all of the old Final Fantasies from the Internet! This I did, and that also helped to give me a clear perspective on the older FFs. Armed with all of these sources, I was able to begin compiling my next section. I believe that many may find it one of the most definitive summaries of Final Fantasy around. Even if you have no interest in video games, you may very well enjoy the story of Final Fantasy. What I've Learned 

* * *

Whenever telling a story, you will usually find that it is best to begin at the beginning. This story begins in Japan, around 1985, with a small games company named Square Co. Ltd. Square was not doing well. The games that they made for the leading games console in Japan, the Famicom Disk System, did not sell well. The main competition at the time was Enix, whose game Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in the U.S.) dominated the Japanese market. 

Square knew that something drastic needed to be done. Their company was failing. Therefore, they decided to embark on a huge project. A project into which all of their dedication, knowledge, resources, and hopes would be poured. 

They named the project 'Final Fantasy.' 

When it was released for the Famicom in 1986, the market was wowed. Never before had any game displayed such graphics, music, or depth as Final Fantasy had. The sheer amount of gameplay (Averaging at about 40 hours) was unparalleled. 

The type of game it was is called an RPG, or role-playing game. It is hard to define a role-playing game. It falls in between strategy and action, with no real-time action movement. The battles consist of just giving commands to the characters, but it takes speed in the fingers. You start off with 4 characters that you control. In battle, the characters each have a different Job, which you choose for each of them. The types of jobs are: Fighter (He mainly attacks), Ninja (Attacks, but also has ability to throw items like Ninja Stars at enemy), Thief (Attacks and steals items from enemy), White Mage (Casts healing magic), and Blue, Red, and Black Mage (All of them cast damaging magic to the enemy). But the real hit was the plotline. 

"The world is veiled in darkness.   
The wind stops,   
The sea is wild,   
And the earth begins to rot.   
The people wait,   
Their only hope, a prophecy----   
'When the world is in darkness   
Four Warriors will come----'   
After a long journey,   
Four young warriors arrive,   
Each holding an ORB."

That's the opening to FF1. It arrived in the U.S. in 1990 for the Nintendo, where it also did quite well. The fans raved. The magazines gave perfect reviews. And Square was back in business. But now in our story, a problem arises... 

When Square (Now called Squaresoft) made FF2 and FF3 in Japan, an odd decision was made, the decision not to release them in the U.S.! On what foundation was this move based? There are many speculations and rumors. Some believe that they thought that FF1, 2, and 3 were too similar to each other graphics-wise to make a profit. Others say that they thought that the new ones were too hard for the U.S. market. 

But FF2 continued what would be a tradition of best-selling games with stronger gameplay and plotline than the previous Final Fantasy. The Job system was also present in this game, but unlike FF1, the jobs are pre-determined for each character. 

"In a world far away...   
The long-continued piece had come to an end.   
The emperor of the Empire Baramekia started to call monsters from the monster world,   
and thus tried to take over the world.   
To counter this, a Rebel Army arose in the Kingdom of Fuun,   
but facing the massive attack of the Empire, their castle was taken,   
and they had to flee to the nearby town of Altea.   
And in this Kingdom of Fuun, there lived 4 young warriors,   
who had lost their parents by the enemy's attacks,   
and had to continually flee from the following enemy's hands..."

That's the setting for the plotline for FF2. It was, again, not released in the U.S., which is regarded as a tragedy by many FF fanatics. However, there have been rumors of remakes of the old Final Fantasies for the Playstation. Hopefully, this will be among them. I have it downloaded on my computer, and it seems to be a very good game. It significantly improves in contrast to the blocky, old-fashioned feel of the original. 

Again, FF3 was a big hit in Japan. This game further modernized the series, which is a big accomplishment, considering that they were all on the same system, Nintendo. The Job system has the same jobs as FF2, but are changeable. Throughout the game, you can change the jobs, but it really doesn't serve much purpose to change them. It opens with the four heroes falling into a mysterious cave and, after fighting a tough monster, seeing a crystal, which speaks to them. 

"Four stout-hearted warriors   
must travel the world   
and sweep away the darkness   
so that once again   
the Crystal will shine   
with the light of hope..."

You guessed it, the Light Warriors were back again. I liked this nostalgic return to the original name for the heroes, without the stone-aged FF1 graphics, sound, and gameplay. 

Anyway, by now Squaresoft had learned the error of their ways, and FF4 was released in the U.S. under the name FF2. The sales skyrocketed, due to the massive increase in the quality of gameplay, storyline, and graphics. That was what did it more than anything, the graphics. FF4/2 was released for the Super Nintendo, a 16-bit system that towered over the now outdated meek 8-bit Nintendo. 

FF4 used a new type of job system. Some of the jobs are the same, but you can't choose them. Instead, the jobs are unique to each separate character. It has just as many varieties of weapons, armor, and magic as the other ones had. You control Cecil, a Dark Knight of the Kingdom of Baron. However, he begins to question his orders from His Majesty to steal the Crystals from innocent people. 

"One to be born from a dragon,   
Hoisting the light and the dark,   
Arises high up in the sky to the still land.   
Veiling the moon with the light of eternity,   
It brings another promise to   
Mother Earth with a bounty and mercy." 

Unfortunately, we have once again run into the problem of confusion between Japan and America. After the release of FF4 in Japan, another version of FF4 underwent construction. It was designed for young children and people new to the field of RPGs, and was named 'Final Fantasy 4 Easytype.' This is what the U.S. got. This clearly illustrates Japan's view of our intelligence, but they weren't too far off the mark. 

The game (FF4 Easytype) was called FF2 in the U.S., since it was our second Final Fantasy. And it was a huge hit in the U.S., even more than the first. FF4E/FF2 was the only even slightly challenging RPG on the U.S. market. We were deprived. Even those who found the game too easy were still wowed by the graphics and gameplay, compared to the first one. After all, there was a span of about four years in between the releases, so there was a huge increase in quality. 

I honestly don't know who made this decision, but whoever made it was horribly, horribly mistaken. The decision? To not release Final Fantasy 5 in the U.S. Until just a few years ago, FF5 was not released in the U.S. They waited until the Playstation came out, and then some, before releasing a compilation of FF5 and FF6 for the Playstation on 'Final Fantasy Anthology.' When FF5 was released in Japan for the SNES, word got out how good it was, and the U.S. was outraged. Many people regard FF5 as the best Final Fantasy ever, so they were justified in their anger. 

FF5 took a new spin on the battle system. You get a BUNCH of jobs to choose from, approximately thirty, and you can change them throughout the game for each character. If a character has one job for a while, he can learn the abilities of that job, then move on to a new job, and learn abilities from that one. (If you have enough patience, you can learn all of the abilities!) 

"Dreams fill the land with hope   
Courage ignites flames   
Water is the source of sympathy   
Investigation carries intelligence in the Wind   
If people possess the four wills, light can arise..."

At this point in the story, it should be mentioned that the next game marks the end of an era. Not the end of the Final Fantasy era. The Final Fantasy era has now lasted 15 years, and shows no visible signs of stopping. The era that ends is the Classic Final Fantasy era. Read on, and you will understand why this is so, and what it progresses to. 

Another Final Fantasy that has been regarded as one of the best, and some say the best, is FF6. This one was released in the U.S. as FF3. (Because by now we had missed half of the ones created!) This was a graphical masterpiece. It truly showed the maximum to which the limits of the 16-bit SNES could be pushed, without better hardware or technology. The only tool they used to make the game better was harder work. It is a true accomplishment when any game is released that shows not technology, but true artistic skill. This is why games like Myst and Riven (released for both the computer and Playstation) remain in my high rankings. 

The Job system was not changed in this one. It simply disappeared. The idea is that each character has an individual ability that can be put to use, and the ability of magic comes when you equip Espers, mythical beings from long ago. An even bigger revolution in the battle system was made at the same time. In all of the previous games, all of your characters line up on one side, all the enemies line up on the other, and you take turns selecting commands to attack each other. In FF6/3, you still do the same thing essentially, but you don't just take turns. Thus was introduced the ATB gauge - Active Time Battle. It is a meter on the bottom of the screen (different for each character) that fills up slowly. When full, you can select a command for that character. 

The main gist of the plotline is that you are Terra, a girl with mysterious magical powers, which no one else has. The evil Empire is trying to basically take over the world, so you join a small rebel group. 

"Long ago, the War of the Magi reduced the world to a scorched wasteland,   
and magic simply ceased to exist.   
1000 years have passed... Iron, gunpowder and steam engines have been rediscovered,   
and high technology reigns...   
But there are some who would enslave the world by reviving   
the dreaded destructive force known as 'magic.'   
Could it be that those in power are on the verge   
of repeating a senseless and deadly mistake?"

And here we cross the threshold. For a while the 16-bit systems were here, and were getting somewhat boring. You can only improve so much on the same platform. Sony then released its 32-bit Playstation. The Playstation revolutionized the market with better graphics than were ever imagined. It gave us the sense that we had truly reached the future of the gaming industry. Squaresoft jumped at this opportunity. They proceeded to bring us a true game of excellence. The game that has a special personal meaning to me as being my first ever Final Fantasy... Final Fantasy 7. 

A monumental effort was put into the effects of this game. No other game matched its background animations, sound effects, or most of all, plotline. But the real hit in this game was the introduction of CG sequences. CG sequences are carefully designed and animated movies, complete with sound. (However, there was never any speech.) If that is too vague of a picture, it roughly matches the quality of the first full-length computer animated movie, "Toy Story". Actually, it was even better than "Toy Story", with less blocky animation. There were smoother lines and movement. The other main change is that the gameplay was the first Final Fantasy to be truly three-dimensional. That is the basic breakdown of the animations. 

The battle system completely scrapped the Job idea (Though not permanently) , and created two new concepts: Limit Breaks and Materia. Limit Breaks depend on a small gauge on the bottom of the screen. The gauge fills up gradually as the character gets attacked. When the gauge is full, that character can do a Limit Break, an extremely powerful physical attack. The other brand-new idea, Materia, takes the place of the Job system. There are many different types of Materia. If you equip the Ice Materia, for example, that character can use the Ice magic. That's the general idea. Some liked this, but others hated it, claiming that since you could change Materia freely, there was no individuality between the characters. 

The plotline is awesome, and quite different from the past six. It has much more serious material, and not as much a fantasy aspect as there was a Sci-Fi feel. You are Cloud Strife, a mercenary who gets hired by a group called AVALANCHE. They are trying to blow up all of the reactors that run on Mako, which is the planet's life source. Eventually, however, the plotline becomes much more twisted and drastic. The complexity of FF7's plotline could theoretically be compared to that of "Mission: Impossible". 

The next Final Fantasy, FF8, was also released for the Playstation. It also had more serious material, but much more realistic characters. The characters in FF7 were somewhat geometric in appearance, whereas the characters in FF8 were intricately designed down to the very last eyelash. 

The battle system is another original, dubbed the Junction/Draw system. This is slightly complicated. The Junction part of the name comes from the ability to junction GFs, or Guardian Forces, to your characters. Oddly enough, many of the GFs share the names of the Espers from FF6/3. Those names have continued through all of the Final Fantasies, give or take a few. The GFs, when junctioned, give your character various abilities. They can also fight in battle. The Draw system is a different version of magic. In every single other Final Fantasy, you use up MP (Magic Points) to cast magic. In FF8, you draw the magic from draw points and monsters. You stockpile it, then use it up. I personally hated this system, due to the time-consuming nature of it. 

The plotline is quite adult, and has given FF8 the distinction of being the most mature Final Fantasy. The breakdown is that you play Squall, a member of SeeD, an elite mercenary force. Eventually, you end up saving the world (And your girlfriend). It's loosely tied together, but the extraordinary art in normal gameplay, battle, and CG sequences are just mind-blowing. And apparently that's what they were going for, an outstanding artistic achievement. This they accomplished beautifully, and also showed the true capabilities of the Playstation. 

Old-time gamers, and Square themselves, liked the new improvements, but felt homesick for the fantasy feel that they had mastered so well in the past. Therefore, a new goal was set, to span the bridges between fantasy and realistic content. To combine charm and laughter with tragedy and gloom. To merge the best of the old with the best of the new. Final Fantasy 9. 

By now they were veterans at cranking out a Final Fantasy every year or two, but to make a collaboration of games like this was a new challenge. They started out by bringing the classic essences of the old Final Fantasies back - the Job system and a fantasy setting (Castles, dragons, etc.) The Job system was the pre-determined version. They combined this with better graphics (although the characters were cartoon-like and comical), and added in a fabulous plotline. You are Zidane, a bandit/thief who tries to kidnap the princess Garnet. However, she wanted to be kidnapped in the first place to escape the castle. I'm not giving it away, but you end up (Surprise!) saving the world. 

So. There you have it; the complete summary of the Final Fantasy series. What else is there to say? Final Fantasy 10 is being produced now for the Playstation 2, and since I am lucky enough to have one, I'll be the first in line. Whatever Squaresoft produces, it will be no less than a work of art. It constantly follows the path of perfection and innovation in the RPG field. In the words of Cloud Strife from FF7, 

"It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it." What This Means to Me 

* * *

This paper was the longest and most involved that I have ever written, and was a real learning experience in the field of writing a research paper. When I had all of my sources, I was at first quite confused. I had a stack of paper with Final Fantasy facts on them. And I was supposed to turn this into a paper? But after I began writing, it came naturally to write about a topic that I enjoyed. The My Questions section was more of a help to me than I had at first realized. My search questions helped to create a guideline as to what I should write down. My second problem was the risk of plagiarism. I didn't want to steal others' work, but at the same time, I found useful information. Eventually, my solution to this was to use the bare-bones facts that were given to me, and then punctuate them with my own writing abilities. I learned how to effectively do that in the process of my I-Search. 

My research differed from that of others. Depending on the perspective from which you look at it, it was both easier and harder. It was easier because since all of my sources came from the Internet, I didn't have to leave my chair. However, it was harder because the number of people who put up the type of web sites that suit the research for a serious paper are extremely limited. I learned a bit about the Caroline card catalog system in the Carnegie Library, but sadly, it didn't help me in the slightest. Perhaps next time I should choose a topic that has more available sources. Works Cited 

* * *

Jordan, Josh. Internet Interview. 17 Feb, 2001. 

MaxPages.com. Interview of FF Creator about FFIX Online. Available: http://www.maxpages.com/superguy911/ffix_interview. 

RPGClassics.com. Final Fantasy Series Evolution. Online. Available: http://www.rpgclassics. com/ffcompendium/innov.html. 

RPG Warehouse. Final Fantasy X. Online. Available: http://www.rpgwh.com/previews/ ffx.shtml. 

The Complete Final Fantasy Timeline. IGN. Online. Available:http://psx.ign.com/news/ 17806.html. 10 Apr. 2000. 

True Final Fantasy. Current news. Online. Available: http://trueff.eyesonff.com/news/ index.shtm. 

Vestal, Andrew. "The History of Final Fantasy." GameSpot. Jan. 1, 2001. Online. Available: http://videogames.com/features/universal/finalfantasy_hs/. 


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